A Time to Reflect.
When we look at the dysfunction in our country—the fighting, the gridlock, the red versus blue—we point fingers. We blame others.
But maybe we should look in the mirror?
We reward performative, bad leadership time and time again. We accept the fact that nothing gets done. Immigration policy is a mess. Our debt is out of control. But instead of demanding better, we defend our interests and our team. We point to the other side. We don’t take accountability. But the truth is, there’s enough blame to go around for everyone.
Leaders deceive and deflect. They point the finger at their opposition to win donations and votes. Citizens vent their frustrations through insults, even when they don’t fully understand what they’re talking about. We all do it. We’ve created a culture where opinions are louder than facts, and performance is valued more than principle.
We criticize what we call the “big, beautiful bill,” but how many of us have read it? How many of us actually know what’s in it? We form our opinions based on headlines, memes, or someone else's take. We listen to the president, the media, our friends, our political parties, and celebrities—everyone except the person who actually wrote the bill. (Jodey Arrington R–TX?) Why? Because we’ve accepted it as normal.
We can keep yelling at each other online. We can keep staring at screens and letting other people tell us what to think. But those people? They probably haven’t read the bill either.
We can keep going down that path—or we can change.
Change is hard. It means recognizing we were wrong. Forgiving ourselves. And then doing the hardest part—trying to get it right. And understanding that we’ll fail again and again. But we keep trying. We can’t just retreat into our bubble and say, “those people are crazy or evil.” We have to understand what we’re talking about. We owe it to ourselves and our children to live honestly.
Our leaders are performative because we reward performance. Because we don’t really want to do the work. We want to be entertained. Politics has become a reality show—and that’s on us.
As a parent, I’ve struggled with managing screen time for myself and my kids. I don’t want to be too rigid with my kids. I want them to learn to regulate themselves now, not later. I can put blocks on their devices, but they’ll find a way around it. My job is to help them see screens as tools, not toys. To teach them the value of learning—whether it’s through books, experiments, observation, building forts, or hunting and fishing.
And when they get off track—when the laundry goes in the washer but never gets folded, when the dishes make it to the sink but never get washed—it’s not always laziness. It’s the pull of distraction. They did the thing, but not well. They want to do their thing next.
And the best thing I did to help them break that habit? I limited my screens too. I use them as tools, not toys. Because that’s how I want my children to see the world—not as something that entertains them, but as something they build and contribute to.
That’s how I want our leaders to lead. To write the bills. To talk about the bills. To reform Congress. To pass immigration reform. To address the debt. To stop performing—and start working.
But if we want that from them, we have to start with us. We need to change ourselves. We need to reflect. We need to read. We need to understand before we speak.
Because this—this noisy, lazy way of living—is not what our founders imagined. They envisioned serious people doing the serious work of self-government so that we wouldn’t be under the thumb of a king.
We must reflect on who we want to be and what type of government we want. Do we want a government where a few people do all the work and the majority of people are dependent? Or do we want to be a self-governing republic? One where people take responsibility, not just demand results.
If you want to take responsibility, visit why435.org, read and sign the Declaration of Representation, and then share this post with a friend.
Peace & Love,
Jeff Mayhugh